We decided that when the key is stolen and the PCs stand around stunned and unsure what to do, Keshma can say she knows that the Tomb has a warden who resets the Tomb. (He is even described as someone who flees rather than fight to the death.) Keshma is listed as knowing details about the Tomb. Withers, the tomb warden with all the crawling hands, is still alive. Here is how we decided to solve the story issues that emerge:įor our particular game, the PCs had freed the Keshma the Dao. As a result, it seems like a terrible shame to prevent players from experiencing such a powerful, potentially mythic, moment of the story. According to Joseph Campbell, this moment is often part of the “Hero’s Journey” in myths. The Hag cackles hideously as she turns Ethereal and the PCs watch as what feels like all their hope is lost.

Suddenly, one of the PCs fails a Hold Person roll. It is the final moment where PCs reach the very bottom level of the Tomb with all the keys.

Here is why we decided to allow this situation to happen:

(Below we added a section describing how this actually ended up playing out live.)